Doctors issue warning about effects of LED streetlights on health
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Doctors issue warning about effects of LED streetlights on health
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Re: Doctors issue warning about effects of LED streetlights on health
#2What does the AMA know about LEDs and health? There's nothing in this article about why they made these recommendations. And the article compares LED lighting to 'before electricity', instead of to for instance existing sodium lamps?
It is an opportune moment to make the recommendation, since folks are converting to LED so rapidly.
Re: Doctors issue warning about effects of LED streetlights on health
#3Url changed from http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/21/health/led-streetlights-ama/, which points to this.
Re: Doctors issue warning about effects of LED streetlights on health
#4What does the AMA know about LEDs and health? There's nothing in this article about why they made these recommendations. And the article compares LED lighting to 'before electricity', instead of to for instance existing sodium lamps? It is an opportune moment to make the recommendation, since folks are converting to LED so rapidly.
Actually they specifically say why: glare and impact on circadian rhythms. Both of these are very well studied issues with light concentrated in the blue end of the spectrum (as opposed to sodium lamps that have very little blue emissions).
BTW, they also failed to mention increased light pollution due to scattering.
Re: Doctors issue warning about effects of LED streetlights on health
#5What does the AMA know about LEDs and health? There's nothing in this article about why they made these recommendations. And the article compares LED lighting to 'before electricity', instead of to for instance existing sodium lamps? It is an opportune moment to make the recommendation, since folks are converting to LED so rapidly.
There was a statement saying that too much blue light can harm the retina and some mentions of sleep-disrupting effects, but I tend to agree that the reasons why should have been given higher billing in the article as they're rather important.
Re: Doctors issue warning about effects of LED streetlights on health
#6Title is misleading; it's not LED streetlights, it's the color temperature of LED streetlights. While the article raises a few good points, color temperature isn't new; it's not like LEDs have some inherent issue that impacts health.
Re: Doctors issue warning about effects of LED streetlights on health
#7Could we just place a lens of some sort on pre existing led street lights to decrease the amount of blue light emitted?
Re: Doctors issue warning about effects of LED streetlights on health
#8> "In addition to its impact on drivers, blue-rich LED streetlights operate at a wavelength that most adversely suppresses melatonin during night."
I wonder if this ends up saving thousands of lives by decreasing fatigue in drivers. The blue light argument seems like absolute hogwash; we're exposed to orders of magnitude brighter blue light every day. It's called daylight, and the streetlights dont't even emit UV.
Re: Doctors issue warning about effects of LED streetlights on health
#9> "In addition to its impact on drivers, blue-rich LED streetlights operate at a wavelength that most adversely suppresses melatonin during night." I wonder if this ends up saving thousands of lives by decreasing fatigue in drivers. The blue light argument seems like absolute hogwash; we're exposed to orders of magnitude brighter blue light every day. It's called daylight, and the streetlights dont't even emit UV.
Yes, but daylight only occurs during the day, hence the name.
Re: Doctors issue warning about effects of LED streetlights on health
#10Could we just place a lens of some sort on pre existing led street lights to decrease the amount of blue light emitted?
A filter to block out a bit of the excess blue light? This would reduce the effectiveness of the light output though, unless you amped up the output to raise all of the colors and then selectively suppressed the blue to help balance it out. Then this would require extra energy, which defeats the purpose of using LEDs to save energy.